Proudly Presented Awards at Windsor Castle

Prize winners of the Windsor Arts Festival were invited to Windsor Castle for a presentation and tour of the Windsor Library on Tuesday 18 October. Niamh Bates (3rd prize: Music Competition: Vocal), Georgina Wheeler (3rd Prize: Art Competition: Photography), and Joseph Baker (2nd Prize: Rankin Prize: Photography) received their prizes from Andrew Try CEO and founder of ComXo, a communications company who sponsor the event.

Andrew spoke of the need for creativity and lateral thinking in business and his wish to support events that sponsor this within education. Among the attending judges were David Emanuel, dress designer for the wedding of Princess Diana in 1981 and Gill Aspel well known local photographer.

After the prize giving the students were given a private tour of the Royal Library. Highlights of the exhibition for Joseph and Georgina included the Annie Leibovitz portrait of the queen taken in 2007. The photograph was taken next to an open window, with the only light being that emanating from the window, leading to an interesting and naturalistic feel. Also shown was the Dorothy Wilding portrait of the young queen, the image currently used on stamps. Niamh was excited to see the newly restored Audubon book of American birds (1827-1838), the largest book in the Royal collection measuring some 1.5 by 1m contrasted with a book dating back to the 1600s measuring a mere 2cm by 1cm. Also on display were the Da Vinci drawing 'A bust of a man in profile', several other Da Vinci and Holbein drawings and an early manuscript of Mozart's written when he was 11 years old complete with corrections by his father Leopold.